Shadows
by Magical Mischief Maker no5
Summary: A Friday the 13th Fright Night Special Ficlet. ...with some L/J thrown in for good measure... Read'n'Review!


Shadows

On Friday the Thirteenth

_~A Fright Night Special~_

_By Katherine_

It all began on Thursday night. That innocent Thursday night when the snow had began to fall lightly, adding to the Christmas-y feel of that time of year. In all, it was a pretty pleasant atmosphere, but there was a problem- it was the 12th of December and a Thursday. Which meant tomorrow was, well, **the** day. The Great Hall was packed at dinner and the noise was fairly loud. But two voices could be heard clearly throughout the Great Hall (and in other rooms nearby as well).

"You've got to be kidding me!" the boy with the messy black hair hollered, "It's just another day!"

"You're so stupid!" the red-haired girl yelled back, green eyes blazing "Things _happen_ on Friday the thirteenth, and"-

James Potter groaned in response.

"Shut up!" Lily Evans reprimanded, almost hysterical "It's true!"

"Right. Stupid Muggle superstition," he muttered as an after thought.

"I heard that James Potter!" Lily said icily "Don't you go and get all anti-Muggle on me!"

"You know what Lily?" James said, standing up suddenly "I'm going to bed."

"Good, go away," she replied huffily, but was instantly regretting her words after he left. The Hall went silent, almost in awe still over their argument. 

"Lily, would you just leave James _alone_ occasionally?" her best friend Meredith Brookes exclaimed almost at odds ends. Lily and James had been arguing about Friday the 13th **all **day long and it was driving her mad. Lily just glared at her friend. She should've known Lily would never give in.

"I'm going to bed," Lily said peevishly "see you in the morning." And with that, she stalked out of the Great Hall, long ponytail swishing behind her like a rogue piece of flame.

**~*~ ~*~ ~*~**

Friday 13, December: 8pm 

The Gryffindor Common Room was almost deserted. Lily shivered, a small figure sitting sideways in a huge armchair. Before, when the room was filled with talking students, the fire had been crackling merrily, making the atmosphere light hearted and pretty much normal. Now it was simply her, reading a large book and James, who was scribbling frantically trying to finish (after just starting) his Transfiguration essay. 

The fire seemed to be roaring menacingly and a draft was creeping in through a jammed window. Lily shivered; it was starting to feel much more like the spooky Friday the 13th she'd anticipated. A strong wind was building in intensity outside; the gale began to whistle and call hauntily around the eaves of the high tower. Lily was beginning to feel very much alone. The shadows were lengthening on the walls, making her own chair look huge. Illuminated with fire, her eyes were sparkling and it was evident that fear was growing in her. 

There was a rustle, Lily caught her breath before remembering James was there with his mountains of parchment. She exhaled loudly. There wasn't any **real** reason why Lily was so freaked out about Friday the thirteenth. Things just always happened to her on these days though, whether it was Petunia pulling cruel pranks on her as a child or Sirius Black putting strange things in her pumpkin juice when she was at Hogwarts. 

Suddenly, the fire dimmed. Lily drew a breath in, and there was a sound on the stone floors that may or may not have been footsteps. She bade herself to be as silent as possible, and stood up. Looking around, the shadows became figure in the dark. _Oh god,_ she thought as she dropped her book accidentally. The huge sound resounded through the room.

Another few shuffling steps were heard by Lily, her mind racing ahead of all reason. The figure was there lurking in the shadows. Lily drew in a jagged breath, her heart racing. There wasn't anything she could do. Her wand was in her dorm, she remembered, she stomach sinking. 

Fear ran through her veins. She didn't weigh enough to fight whatever was there. The shadow came closer again. If she were thinking clearly, Lily would've dashed into her dorm. But not this time. The huge room, bigger in the dark, the ghostly figure getting closer and closer halted any movement she might make. Her feet felt like stone. She heard a mutter in the dark.

To her scared mind _Lumos_ sounded a lot like _Crucio_, and all sense went reeling out of her head. 

"If, you're, if you're Voldemort," she stuttered with fear.

Suddenly the face of her "attacker" was illuminated.

"James?" she squeaked, confused as a face with grey eyes ringed with glasses came into view. 

"Yeah Lily," he replied, "Who'd you think it'd be?" 

Lily sighed with relief-she was safe. Suddenly she stepped forward and threw herself into James' arms. Utterly surprised, James just stood there for a minute or two before wrapping her in his arms, amazed that they hadn't done this before- it just felt so right. 

"It's alright," he whispered into her hair "the fire just needs more wood."

Lily sighed, she felt so stupid now. Of course that was why the fire had gone down. 

"I've got to go Lily," James said, trying to break away.

"Where to?"

"I've got to go and swap my Transfiguration essay with the proper one I did up now," he replied. Lily just nodded; she didn't really want to hear how he'd given Professor Mc Gonagal a fake essay so he'd have time to do a proper one up. 

"You should really stay here," James said, but as he inspected her face he changed his mind "but you could come if you want- my Invisibility cloak is big enough for two."

"Alright," she said and James grabbed the cloak and the essay.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

"Alright," James whispered in Lily's ear as they made their way down the corridor "all we've got to do is get into the Transfiguration room, and swap my essay with my fake one."

"Why do I have a feeling this will be harder than what you say?" Lily muttered, not completely hating the fact that she was fairly close to James. Quite the opposite actually, it was nice and reassuring not at all uncomfortable or-

"What was **that**?!" Lily hissed.

"Uh," James started, "Nothing?" he said hopefully.

"No, it's not," Lily said, her brow wrinkling with worry "it was someone, there's someone out there."

A shadow moved out of the corner of James' eye. He shook his head. This was getting silly.

"Come on Lily, there's nothing out there," James stated, trying inadequately to keep a note of fear from his voice "let's just get this over and done with."

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

They walked up and down stairs, until they finally came to the Transfiguration classroom.

"Alright," James said turning the knob of the door "we're almost done. Lily?"

But Lily wasn't making any move to walk into the room. She was standing frozen like a manikin, eyes glassy with fear, and her mouth slightly open.

"What's wrong?" James asked, getting really concerned. But then his eye caught what was wrong. A huge towering shadowy figure, standing at the other end of the hallway. He sucked his breath in, feeling the insane fear hit him. Lily reached for James' hand, realizing he'd seen it. 

"We've got to go back," she whispered, fear mixing with horror. James wouldn't move.

The figure began to move closer. James pushed his essay through the open door, hoping his teacher would be easy on him. He shut the door, the loud noise making the shadowy figure move faster and Lily to gasp, and James to jump.

"We've got to go," Lily said haltingly and pulled James after her, running through the corridors. Her hair seemed to prickle on her scalp. The dark shadow caught her eye. Startled again, she pulled James around another corner, almost loosing her balance. The invisibility cloak was falling off James and Lily as the fled up a case of stairs.

James glanced over his shoulder. The shadow was still following them. Tightening his grip on Lily's hand, they sprinted towards the portrait of the Fat Lady, startled, she woke up.

"Isn't it a bit late to be out dears?" she said sleepily "it must be at least midnight."

James tried to shrug, but he was panting too much "Frog Legs," he said and the painting swung open, allowing them to fall through. Lily collapsed onto a couch, panting heavily and still scared. 

"What _was_ that?" she asked when she had control of her voice and sat up to face James. 

"Don't know," he said, eyes worried behind his glasses.

"Well, I can't say I didn't warn you,"

"What?" he exclaimed

"Well it **was** Friday the thirteenth." Lily grinned as she lent over to kiss James before he could argue.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Outside the Gryffindor Tower, Peeves chortled to himself.

"You've really got to start being nicer to the students," Nearly Headless Nick chided.

"Nah," Peeves replied between laughs "did you see their faces?!"

**~*~ ~*~ ~*~**

_End._

_Authors Note: Review please!_

_~Katherine~_


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